The Budget submitted for this year by the Governor of the State of New York Andrew Cuomo, will bring dire consequences to our community.

Although we managed to restore the money to keep senior centers open and the threat to close 105 senior centers is no longer imminent, on the other hand, Governor Cuomo asks for a 2.8 billion dollar cut to Medicaid benefits in this year’s budget.

This implies that some hospitals are going to have to close their doors and that many seniors may not obtain the medicines and services they once received.

Hospitals such as Lincoln Hospital, Bronx Lebanon and many others across the city that provide services to the poor and needy, will be forced to cut their services.

In regard to education, the Governor’s budget calls for a cut of a billion and a half dollars, costing the City of New York about $500 million, forcing the dismissal of teachers and hence affecting the education of our children.

As for housing, Governor Andrew Cuomo rejected the extension of rent control, giving landlords the opportunity to increase the rent and forcing our people to sleep in shelters, the streets or subways.

Governor Cuomo also refused to extend the tax on people earning over a million dollars a year. Thus, the State of New York will lose more than 4 billion dollars and will have to be recovered from the poor, the sick, the needy, the children and the elderly.

As we say in Puerto Rico, “with all this thunder and with this governor, who sleeps?”